BOSTON • A rain of three-pointers at the TD Garden put the skids on the Milwaukee Bucks' run as the last undefeated National Basketball Association team this season.

The Boston Celtics hit 24 of 55 attempts from beyond the arc, a team record. But there was an element of luck after Eric Bledsoe missed a free throw with 12.8 seconds left as they handed the Bucks their first loss in eight games with a 117-113 win on Thursday.

The Celtics, despite their three-point prowess that came one shy of the Cleveland Cavaliers' record set last season, nearly blew a fourth-quarter 15-point lead after missing their last six shots and mixing in a turnover.

The visitors took advantage to rally from 113-104 down with 3min 48sec left to get to within 113-111 before Bledsoe botched the first of his two free throws after stealing the ball from Jayson Tatum.

He made the second to get the lead down to one, but Kyrie Irving then nailed two free throws to make it 115-112 before Al Horford sank two shots from the line to seal the deal for the Celtics (6-2).

Irving buried six treys to account for a majority of his team-high 28 points as the Celtics outscored the Bucks 72-27 from long range for their fourth straight win.

The five-time All-Star later revealed that the strategy was to target the perimeter defence of the Bucks, who were playing only their third road game this term.

He told news website Masslive.com: "They're wide open. If they're going to play defence like that, then I don't see why not.

"Al is a capable shooter. I have the utmost confidence in him. And then if we don't have it, we have secondary actions we can run.

"But I feel like if they're going to play that type of defence, we should just shoot it every time.

"At one point, (Milwaukee's) Brook (Lopez) and John Henson were in the paint. So get 'em (sic) up (threes).

"I hope we shoot 80 next game if they play defence like that."

Milwaukee's Giannis Antetokounmpo was the game's leading scorer with 33 points as well as the top rebounder with 11.

REUTERS